LiveJournal U.S. has quietly downsized over the past few months, leaving the Internet’s oldest blogging platform almost entirely under Russian management.<\/p>
When the Daily Dot visited LiveJournal’s San Francisco headquarters<\/a> in February 2012, the company had about 10 U.S. employees.<\/p>Since then, five employees—including U.S. General Manager Anjelika Petrochenko—have left the company. LiveJournal has not announced Petrochenko’s departure in any statement or release, but Petrochenko confirmed her own departure to the Daily Dot.<\/p>
Ekaterina Pahomchik, a LiveJournal spokesperson based in Moscow, told the Daily Dot Petrochenko and the other departed employees will not be replaced.<\/p>
“All of LiveJournal’s business operations nowadays are handled out of the SUP Media offices in Moscow centrally,” she said.<\/p>
“Our representatives from Russia will be responsible for all product, marketing, business development etc. projects for the U.S. segment.”<\/p><\/blockquote>
SUP Media is LiveJournal’s Russian parent company, whichbought the blogging platform from Six Apart<\/a> in 2007. SUP is the third company to take ownership of LiveJournal, after Six Apart and Danga Interactive<\/a>, the company LiveJournal inventor Brad Fitzpatrick managed.<\/p>However, Pahomchik said that U.S. LiveJournal users should not notice a difference. The Russian office will continue the projects, like LJ Media, the U.S. office worked on.<\/p>
“LiveJournal and SUP Media are keen on continuing the LJ Media initiative to keep up with the results which have been achieved so far, and this is the new strategy of LiveJournal global development,” she said.<\/p>
Aside from day to day maintenance, the U.S. office was also responsible for LJ Media<\/a>, a redesign and promotion initiative for LiveJournal’s most popular communities like Oh No They Didn’t!<\/a>,VaginaPagina<\/a>, and CraftGrrl<\/a>.<\/p>Brenden Delzer, the moderator of Oh No They Didn’t! and a LiveJournal employee who continues to work in the San Francisco office, told the Daily Dot that LJ Media moderators have already been informed about the change in overhead.<\/p>
“Leadership of the LJ Media program has been transferred to our main office in Russia & every LJ Media community leader received an email from Anjelika with these details,” he said.<\/p>
Though the staff website<\/a> lists employees like Anjelika Petrochenko as current staff members, Delzer confirmed that they were no longer with the company.<\/p>The Daily Dot has confirmed that LiveJournal employees Tom Byron, Jen Kim, Sasha Rojas, and Michael Rutledge have also left this year. Though SUP Media does not plan to replace them, it has not announced their departures either, leaving us to wonder who else listed on the website has already left.<\/p>
Aja Romano<\/a> contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>The Daily Dot<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>","comments":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1125391.html?view=comments#comments","category":["adventures in journalism","2012","in soviet russia fandom loves you","us","an assortment of crappy things","lj to aja: burn.","lj"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1125235.html","pubDate":"Thu, 11 Oct 2012 23:36:55 GMT","title":"THIS IS AN EPIC ANNOUNCEMENT.","author":"bookshop","link":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1125235.html","description":"HELLO, LJ & DW!!
GUESS WHAT. Annalee Newitz, editor in chief of IO9, has asked me to be a guest on next week's edition of We Come From the Future to talk about fandom!
And not just any fandom discussion, but the ultimate<\/i> fandom discussion.
That's right.
Next Friday, I'm going to dish the dirt with Annalee and the writers of io9 (fangirl squeaks) about FANDOM WANK! YES. THAT'S RIGHT. THIS IS A THING THAT IS HAPPENING.
I'll be over in the corner making high-pitched noises until next week!","comments":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1125235.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1125002.html","pubDate":"Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:20:34 GMT","title":"YOU GUYS YOU GUYS","author":"bookshop","link":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1125002.html","description":"LOOKIT I INTERVIEWED FELICIA DAY! ♥!<\/font><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1125002.html?view=comments#comments","category":["adventures in journalism","girls are awesome","squee"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1124689.html","pubDate":"Thu, 04 Oct 2012 14:57:19 GMT","title":"Updates From the World of Journalism + a Clarification","author":"bookshop","link":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1124689.html","description":"Hi, LJ \/ DW!
I am so very remiss in letting you guys know where I've been and what I've been writing, but I do have a couple of quick updates for you:
AfterElton<\/a><\/b> has asked me to be one of their 5 new \"slash experts\" for their brand-new column on slash fandom, The Shipping News<\/b>! I'm so excited, omg! And I have to thank the Daily Dot for letting me be a part of this. Our first column is up right this way<\/b><\/a>, and if you're in the mood for a discussion about RPF, there's a heated one going on in comments<\/a>, so grab popcorn and dive in! :D
This is not a journalism update but omg Fandomspotting<\/a><\/b>!! We've done 3 eps so far and it's so much fun! Last week we spotlighted YULETIDE<\/a> and it was awesome. This week we're hosting our first fandom-specific ep, and it's all about DOCTOR WHO<\/b>! So join us for this weekend's livecast if you can, or check out the podcast if you can't! :)
I keep being asked to provide links to my fandom coverage at the Dot, and I've been failing, but so far you can read everything I've posted either at my Daily Dot byline<\/a> or over at my Tumblr tag<\/a>!
I've received a lot of feedback saying that I misrepresented podfic fandom in my recent article on podfic for the Daily Dot. Ordinarily I prefer to let my journalism speak for itself, or make a correction when I make a mistake--but in this case things aren't that simple. I don't want anyone's trust in me as a journalist to suffer because of this, so if I may, I want to say a few things--primarily that I did not take my interpretation of what happened from FFA. I am a professional journalist with 11 years of experience. I do not take the word of an anon meme as a source<\/i>.
The sources I used for this article came from three interviews (cited in the article) and the Fanlore talk page and revision history. The point of contention is over one sentence in which I described changes made to the Fanlore entry for the fic \"This Never Happened.\" Paraka's original version of the entry<\/a> links the fanfic as \"based on\" in the right sidebar, without identifying it as a fic. There is no description of the story itself in the main entry text, and the summary\/review are both in reference to the podfic, not the fic.
AgentStarbucks' changes to the page rephrased the opening sentence from \"This Never Happened is a Frank Iero\/Gerard Way podfic by klb (3:05:31)\" to \"This Never Happened is a Frank Iero\/Gerard Way fanfic originally written by bexless, of which klb made a podfic (3:05:31).\" Paraka described this change on the Wiki Talk entry as \"This is an entry about a *podfic* and the slight changes made, make this into an entry about a *fic*....they're still *separate* fanworks that should have separate entries on fanlore.\"
As a journalist attempting to sum all of this up, I had to combine both of these ideas--editing the entries to talk about fanfic and the issue of separate entries--into one sentence. Thus my one-sentence summary became: \"Paraka took issue when another fan on Fanlore attempted to edit an entry she had made on a podfic to include<\/b> (emphasis mine) the fanfiction that it was based on, combining both the podfic and the original story under the same URL.\"<\/ul>Since there was no inclusion of the fanfiction in the general text of the entry beforehand, by using the word \"include\" instead of \"emphasize,\" I don't feel that I am misrepresenting podfic fandom. \"Emphasize\" is speculation as to why<\/i> AgentStarbucks made the change, and therefore subjective. Paraka has already explained how she felt about the change in the comments to the article.
I went on in my article to describe how Paraka's original request got taken out of context by the meme and others to be about whether podfic deserved its own entry. I also explicitly clarified that whether podfics should have their own entries was never up for debate among the Fanlore wiki committee. So I don't feel that I misrepresented the original argument.
Because of the unhappiness within podfic fandom, however, I did discuss this with my editor. After explaining to him the way the podfic was linked versus the way the changes were made, my editor felt that while both \"include\" and \"emphasize\" are technically accurate, include seems to be more precise and objective in this instance, and that no correction to the article itself is needed.
I very humbly ask that anyone who feels I have misrepresented podfic fandom please read the rest of the article. As a journalist first and as a longtime podficcer myself second, I have no possible vested interest in wanting to hurt or anger anyone in this debate. And I believe I have represented the issue and your feelings fairly. <\/a>
You guys are always welcome to call me out on anything you're unhappy with, at any time. The comments to my articles are always open, and we recently updated our commenting system so now (thank god) you don't have to log in through Facebook!","comments":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1124689.html?view=comments#comments","category":"adventures in journalism"},{"guid":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1123852.html","pubDate":"Sun, 23 Sep 2012 04:57:07 GMT","title":"THINGS WE CAN ONLY POST ON ACTUAL BLOGS, take that, tumblr!","author":"bookshop","link":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1123852.html","description":"(there is a monster<\/strike> Tim Roth \/ Gary Oldman fic at the end of this chat book<\/strike>)
Ifrit.: JGL was a wreck on SNL
bookshop: oh god really? oh god poor guy
bookshop: UGH SO EMBARRASSED
Ifrit.: flkd;lk no wait I'm not actually sure if it was TERRIBLE TERRIBLE
bookshop: he was really bad the last time too wasn't he? fdljafj;dslasdfj
Ifrit.: but I am just assuming that it was because the opening involves him doing a striptease a la Magic Mike
bookshop: uh
Ifrit.: I am looking at gifs and just being like really embarrassed
bookshop: why are he and tom hardy both always so asdklfja;sdlfdklj;kldj
Ifrit.: embarrassing
bookshop: safdk;kjfksdf;sdajsdfjs yes sdlka;sdfjsljsssjfljld
Ifrit.: WHY
bookshop: SO HILARIOUSLY NOT THEIR CHARACTERS fdklasdj;fkadjaskdflajaklfjdl
Ifrit.: but Tom Hardy is like
Ifrit.: he's okay but JGL JUST STOP
bookshop: yes, he's just
bookshop: yes
bookshop: yes
bookshop: yes
bookshop: yes
bookshop: yes
Ifrit.: WHY *IS* HE
bookshop: sdasfds I DON'T KNOW GOD
Ifrit.: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HIM
bookshop: WHY IS HE SO PRETENTIOUS AND AWKWARD
Ifrit.: right
bookshop: HE'S NOT EVEN SMART jdflkajdsa dfaskdfjadkl;ajkjfdkjklasfd
Ifrit.: LKFJ;DLKJG;LAKG;LAKG LAKFJLDKJF;LDKN;ALKDJF;LKN;FALKDJ;NGALKDJ;AL *SO BLUNT*
bookshop: WELL IT'S TRUE kdjf;jadkfadkdj;k
Ifrit.: HIS FRENCH ISN'T EVEN THAT GREAT
bookshop: godddddddd I KNOW!
Ifrit.: BRADLEY COOPER'S FRENCH IS BETTER THAN YOURS!!!
bookshop: HE KNOWS NO FRENCH DIRECTORS WHEN FACED WITH FRENCH PEOPLE! ACTUAL FRENCH PEOPLE LEVEL HIM!
Ifrit.: HE IS BUILT LIKE A STALK OF CELERY!!!!!
bookshop: dfadladdl;fajdsfl
bookshop: HE FILMED AN ENTIRE MOVIE JUST SO HE COULD RIDE A BIKE!
Ifrit.: NOBODY EVEN LIKES BIKE MESSENGERS!!!!!!!!!
bookshop: WELL i did really love paperboy when i was 9 :(
Ifrit.: http:\/\/blog.naver.com\/ygitnm\/110148030752<\/a> please share in my horror
bookshop: why am i clicking on this
Ifrit.: because you hate yourself and we hate JGL
bookshop: olhdlfkjdkl;sd;;sdl;ads;klasdhj;dsfd kalsdjf;sasdjfsdlkjsafddd oh my GOD
Ifrit.: RIGHT
bookshop: dfkj;ajdlj;ajf;dlkjaslksjaljdljalsdk
Ifrit.: I JUST CAN'T
Ifrit.: LIKE
bookshop: NO
Ifrit.: DEAR TUMBLR, THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO ACTUALLY *CAN'T*
Ifrit.: LIKE I JUST REALLY CAN'T
bookshop: SCREAM
bookshop: RIGHT
bookshop: I JUST
Ifrit.: AJA HE IS SO HORRIFYING
bookshop: GOD WHY IS HE ALWAYS SO HORRIFYING
Ifrit.: *I DON'T KNOW*
bookshop: *HOT GIRLS AREN'T FUNNY* HE SAYS
bookshop: AND THEN: HE DOES THIS
Ifrit.: HE IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST UGH
Ifrit.: BAG OF FUCKING DICKS
Ifrit.: WHAT A CLUELESS ASSHOLE
bookshop: WHY
bookshop: WHY
bookshop: WHY
Ifrit.: he
Ifrit.: I
bookshop: GOD JUST WHEN I THOUGHT HE MIGHT BE CHASTENED SINCE HIS EMILY BLUNT THING
Ifrit.: NOPE
bookshop: I MEAN MAYBE HE JUST DOESN'T REALIZE HOW AWFUL HE LOOKS
Ifrit.: well to be fair you can do a terrible striptease even while chastened
bookshop: true
Ifrit.: but
bookshop: true but
Ifrit.: but YES THIS IS JUST SO
bookshop: dakldldld
Ifrit.: IT IS THE LEAST SEXY THING IN THE WORLD
Ifrit.: IT IS AN ACTIVE BONER-KILLER
bookshop: it is so unsexy
bookshop: I MEAN CLEARLY THE POINT IS TO BE UNSEXY BUT THIS IS NOT
Ifrit.: but like not even ironically
bookshop: RIGHT
Ifrit.: THIS IS JUST SO WHOLEHEARTEDLY EMBARRASSING
bookshop: I THINK HE REALLY DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO DO COMEDY UNLESS IT'S PHYSICAL COMEDY OR SITCOM-LEVEL UNSUBTLETY
Ifrit.: I AGREE
bookshop: why
Ifrit.: it is because he has no self-awareness ;__;
bookshop: no .________.
bookshop: I just feel really gross even analyzing this to that extent
Ifrit.: LFAKJD;LKGHA; SO TRUE
bookshop: god MEANWHILE TOM HARDY IS THE MOST SELF AWARE, BUT SO INTROVERTED THAT HE CAN BARELY FUNCTION IN PUBLIC ASKLJF;ADF
Ifrit.: oh stop, don't make this about Tom Hardy
bookshop: I AM NOT
bookshop: I AM MERELY MAKING IT ABOUT THE RPF FIC I WANT WRITTEN
Ifrit.: ABOUT THARD AND JGL?
bookshop: WHERE TOM HARDY TEACHES JGL HOW TO STOP BEING A PRETENTIOUS FUCK
Ifrit.: IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE
bookshop: I DON'T REALLY EVEN NEED SEX, I JUST NEED THE ERASURE
Ifrit.: OF JGL
bookshop: OF MY OWN EMBARRASSMENT
Ifrit.: LKFJDLK; BUT CAN YOU REALLY CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE OCEANS
bookshop: bookshop: I DON'T KNOW! JUST I KEEP HOPING GARY OLDMAN WILL FIX THEM
Ifrit.: I FEEL BAD FOR FICTIONAL TOM HARDY
Ifrit.: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Ifrit.: OHMYFUCKINGGOD
Ifrit.: ACTUAL LAUGHTER
Ifrit.: JUST THE THOUGHT OF GARY OLDMAN PATIENTLY \/ IMPATIENTLY SITTING BOTH OF THEM DOWN AND BEING LIKE \"YOU TWO HAVE PROBLEMS\" \"FIX THEM\"
Ifrit.: AND JUST LEAVING
Ifrit.: and Christian Bale laughing at them
bookshop: BUT IT'S SO TRUE! IF ANYONE CAN....! WAIT where would bale be in all this! WHO IS HE TO LAUGH AT ANYONE
Ifrit.: he is just lurking outside a window and he is laughing because he is a dick
bookshop: KDJA;KLSDJ;FLDSJ;ASLDSJASDLJSD;;SADLJSDL of course he is
bookshop: actual psychopath senor bale
Ifrit.: I love it fld;kd
Ifrit.: and as he walks out of the room Gary Oldman finds him lurking at the window laughing and he snaps WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT and Gary Oldman stalks away muttering CRAZY CUNTS and he is just so done with everything
Ifrit.: I hope he meets Tim Roth for drinks.
bookshop: of course he does
Ifrit.: ;___; <3
bookshop: and then they rant about how all the younger stars need to get off their lawns
Ifrit.: and then I hope they have nostalgic sex, as they do
bookshop: of course, as they do whenever they meet up for drinks
Ifrit.: alternatively I hope they get SO DRUNK that they just end up trashing London and then they get arrested and nobody believes that they are Gary Oldman and Tim Roth
bookshop: fdajds;jdlasdfjdsljld oh my god LIKE IT'S 1988
Ifrit.: and Christian Bale comes to laugh at them because he is an actual psychopath, and Gary Oldman throws something at him from between the bars
bookshop: YES OMG
bookshop: THEY JUST HAVE DRUNKEN HALF-PUBLIC SEX SOMEWHERE AND THEN LIKE WRITE CRUDE GRAFFITI ON THE WALLS OF THE OLD VIC OR SOMETHING
Ifrit.: AHAHAHAHA YES
bookshop: \"FUCK IBSEN\"
Ifrit.: THEY ARE SO SLOPPY ;___;
Ifrit.: LFK;LAKN;ALGK;ALKE;LGKA; DYING THIS IS SO ROMANTIC
bookshop: \"I'LL SHOW YOU MY MASTER BUILDER,\" slurs tim roth
bookshop: dying
Ifrit.: oh my god Ibsen obscenities
bookshop: there clearly need to be more ibsen-related obscenities
Ifrit.: sob I love them a lot
Ifrit.: nyoro~n
bookshop: *pat pat*
Ifrit.: I hope someone writes this fic
Ifrit.: and calls it Senility in the UK or something
Ifrit.: YULETIDE~","comments":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1123852.html?view=comments#comments","category":["inception","it's a circle of love","yuletide"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1123623.html","pubDate":"Sun, 16 Sep 2012 13:59:17 GMT","title":"FANDOMSPOTTING!","author":"bookshop","link":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1123623.html","description":"I am so late for this announcement but I'm so excited!
Please join me, ![](\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=916.1\")
<\/a>cobweb_diamond<\/b><\/a><\/span>, <\/a>eleveninches<\/b><\/a><\/span>, <\/a>cherrybina<\/b><\/a><\/span>, and <\/a>cthonical<\/b><\/a><\/span> in exactly UM RIGHT NOW WHOOPS<\/b> for the first ever live broadcast of...
Fandomspotting!<\/a><\/b>
Fandomspotting is a new weekly live audio chat that will be livestreaming on Youtube via Google Hangout.
We will have a rotating roster of panelists each week, on a rotating schedule so everyone can listen live. And if you can't, you can just check out the YouTube channel for the archives!
I'm really excited about this, guys. We started planning this in February but got waylaid just as we were about to broadcast the first ep when the software we were using went behind a firewall. So then we realized 2 weeks ago that Google had the tools we needed and so HERE WE ARE YAY.
This is so exciting!","comments":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1123623.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1123481.html","pubDate":"Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:05:56 GMT","title":"f_fa interview!","author":"bookshop","link":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1123481.html","description":"so I did an interview with the moderator of Fail Fandom Anon!<\/a>
It's a good interview. <\/a>sunnycamehome2u<\/b><\/a><\/span> was very cooperative and articulate, and it's worth a read even if you think anon memes are the scourge of fandom. :)","comments":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1123481.html?view=comments#comments","category":["adventures in journalism","anonymity"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1122949.html","pubDate":"Wed, 12 Sep 2012 03:28:33 GMT","title":"fluff memes!","author":"bookshop","link":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1122949.html","description":"Received word that I'm not teaching music this fall because enrollment is down. So that means I can unlock the fluff memes, and so I have!
Fluff Meme, Round One!<\/a><\/b>
Fluff Meme, Round Two!<\/a><\/b>
Fluff Meme, Round Three<\/a><\/b>, hosted at <\/a>cherrybina<\/b><\/a><\/span>'s place! :D
(*cough* in case anyone wanted to spontaneously put more inception fluff on my journal, in between writing a zillion articles, i would come here and make googly eyes of love and adoration at you. <3)","comments":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1122949.html?view=comments#comments","category":"inception"},{"guid":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1122605.html","pubDate":"Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:53:53 GMT","title":"The best thing about this whole series is that my editor actually called it \u201cThe Livejournal Trilogy","author":"bookshop","link":"https:\/\/bookshop.livejournal.com\/1122605.html","description":"
![](\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/community.png?v=556&v=916.1\")
<\/a>leviosa2016<\/b><\/a><\/span> over the weekend and I guess the fruits of that labor are best summed up by the fact that i just spent several hours downloading a bunch of handwavey tech magic that would allow me to install Semagic on my Mac. Semagic! I HAVE MISSED YOU SO MUCH, Semagic. (Semagic is to LJ what XKit is to Tumblr, I suppose. Long may it reign.)